Tarar rejects PPP's AJK polls rigging claims

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday said that unfounded accusations of electoral rigging in the recent Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections should not be made without credible evidence and that the PPP should show political maturity and graciously accept the election results.

During a media talk in Islamabad, Tarar stated that while political point scoring was part and parcel of the election process, more effort should have been put in by the PPP, as it had done in the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, to secure victory.

Tarar further criticised Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon for his "baseless accusations" of election rigging and asked where the evidence for this was, adding that accusations should be backed with irrefutable evidence and should not be made for their own sake.

He noted that the "people of AJK voted for the party that placed more importance on development and the welfare of the people. PPP should reflect on its own performance in Sindh before pointing fingers elsewhere."

According to the minister, the PML-N's manifesto for this election focused on public service and development, further explaining that the people of Kashmir were "aware who has wasted time and which party has invested time and effort in building development projects in AJK".

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah said PML-N had secured a simple majority in the 45-member AJK Legislative Assembly.

Addressing a news conference alongside Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam in Islamabad, Sanaullah said polling had been completed on 20 seats, including 13 in the first phase and seven of the nine seats in Muzaffarabad in the second phase.

"PML-N candidates won 13 of these 20 seats. In Muzaffarabad, PML-N candidates were successful on four of the seven seats, while the PPP) won three," he said.

Sanaullah said PML-N had also won 10 of the 12 refugee seats. "PPP neither campaigned nor contested the refugee seats.